My wife and I mailed in our ballots this week. What a relief. Itâs like having an ugly mole removed, and now we can get on with our lives.
Obviously (if you read this blog regularly) we voted for Hillary Clinton. Itâs a classic no-brainer, citizens, because the idea of a wall-building, Muslim-hating, white supremacist-loving, bankruptcy-declaring, taco truck-deriding, dopey comb-overing, pussy-grabbing clown in the White House is counter to everything America stands for. Or used to stand for.
America, “at long last, have you left no sense of decency?”*
I know a lot of Americans are frustrated. I was frustrated too, first from 1980 to 1992, then from 2000 to 2008. You get over it. You live. Ideally, you put the political travesty aside and make good decisions for yourself. You protest when you can (Iraq Wars I and II), speak out when you must, educate yourself, help the causes you believe in with time and money, and wait.
I just read of a 69-year-old woman whoâs voting for Trump because her familyâs finances are a wreck and Hillaryâs âgawn make it worstâ (I paraphrase). Well, at her age she should be on Social Security, and if thatâs insufficient itâs pretty clear she didnât plan for retirement properly. It sounds like she and her husband made some bad choices throughout their lives, during both Democratic and Republican administrations, and now they have a lot of roosting chickens in their junk-scattered yard. This has nothing to do with politics and nothing to do with Mexico, ISIS, Obama, Hillary, or the price of Spam. Moreover, it ainât getting any better under President Pussy-Grabber. Lady, your goose is cooked, and youâre the one who burned it.
Seems to me Trump supporters think eight years of Obama have ruined their lives along with the country and see this as their time to rise up and stoke a honky revolution. They believe Hillaryâs cominâ for their guns, forcinâ their daughters to have late-term abortions, bannin’ Jesus, and suckinâ every penny out of their bank accounts to give to no-account welfare queens and transgender political prisoners (Hi, Chelsea!).
Itâs an absurd worldview. Theyâve been misinformed. Iâm sad they were so easily manipulated.
So I beg you, any of you out there who have already or intend to vote for Trump, donât tell me about it. My view of you will change forever. Even if you redeem yourself by dedicating your life to the eradication of malaria and male pattern baldness, Iâll never see you the same way. In fact, Iâll feel obligated to send you a sympathy card every week, saying, âSorry about the accident that hurt your brain so bad. Have a nice life!â
In all seriousness, Iâve never experienced anything remotely like this in my political life, grown men and women falling for such a sleazy con. I urge anyone who isnât focused exclusively on keeping that Baby Mussolini out of power to think carefully about the shame that always follows the self-indulgence of mental masturbation. I hate to sound preachy, but getting a loud and sloppy âfuck you!â off your chest isnât going to keep you happy. Itâs but a wee spasm of pleasure, then itâs gone.
So be a patriot. Stuff that âfuck you!â and tell this creepy clown to hit the road.
—–
*Joseph N. Welch, 1954.
(Image via.)
We haven’t voted yet. We have early voting and I expect we’ll make our way to one of the polls this weekend. Of course, you know how we expect to vote. I just wish I could turn everything off until November 9. The media doesn’t help with its relentless reporting of everything that The Donald or his supporters say (and I’m talking about you, too, New York Times). As someone who works with data, it amazes me that some people can be so naive to think that The Donald’s twitter following or attendance at his rallies is enough to indicate that he will win the election. Those are just points in time that don’t really add up to anything. Polls are based on smaller groups of people than ever before. It used to be that you needed at least 1200 survey participants for representation to the general population. Now I see surveys out there with only 600 participants, and still the margin of error is +/- 3 points. Huh? How is that even possible? And in a state like Florida, how can 600 people even get close to representing even a segment of the population? The Hispanics in Florida today are very different from the Hispanics in Florida 20 years ago. Occasionally that gets mentioned. Occasionally.
Well, people believe what they want to believe. One of my sisters is a Trump supporter. She’s in her 70s, eking out a living between SS and financial support from her family (but don’t mention that; she likes to think she’s financially independent). My 93-year-old mother thinks she’s been brainwashed by her friends at the local bar. That’s my mom’s word: brainwashed. Quite apt, don’t you think?
God, I agree completely. There’s so much wrong with the whole picture here, and it’s getting so I can’t turn on the TV without an aneurysm bursting.
I’d like to believe that the science of polling is so sophisticated now that these itty bitty samples are accurate, but a couple weeks ago the Times analyzed one poll that’s been consistently in Trump’s favor and found that one guy was responsible for much of the difference. Wait, what?!
Luckily my whole family is on the #NeverTrump train so I don’t have to disown anybody. But seriously, is this not the biggest case of self-delusion you’ve ever seen? Sheesh.
You are so correct in saying “people believe what they want to believe”. Most people, I’ve found, also hate to admit when they’re wrong, or don’t like to be discovered having backed the wrong horse, so they blame everyone else when that horse proves to be lame. It’s all their fault.
Like Kevin says, people need to start taking responsibility for having burned their own goose.
That lame horse is also pushing a lot of hostility and resentment, so when he gets beat the effects are going to linger. Could get scary around here!
You’re always welcome to come to Bequia! Although not all at the same time …
I’m with you … I’ve never held against friends and acquaintances their votes for candidates I wouldn’t vote for. This one is different. Anybody in my circle who votes for Trump … well, I’ll look at them differently, and do what I can to avoid them in the future.
In the world of Facebook I have already committed the unpardonable sin of unfriending several of them.
As you know, to a certain extent, I understand the anti-Hillary perspective. But the idea that being anti-Hillary means being pro-Trump is just ridiculous. There is no logical argument for him as a viable candidate deserving of a vote.
Truly, it’s clear that Trump voters see reality completely differently. It’s like some kind of chip has been implanted in their brains! Like your post about Mexican guacamole. I mean, who is feeding them this “information”? Why don’t they question it? Are they so resentful that they’re ready to storm the effing Bastille and start from scratch? Holy crap!
On the right wing blog I go to regularly, they are convinced she has Parkinson’s. some commenters even describe it as late stage Parkinson’s. All because of a doctored video and some idiot’s interpretation of how she is acting in the video. And if you know anything about late stage Parkinson’s and observe her with any level of impartiality you know there’s no truth to it. And there is so much more.
The Fact-Free Zone. Oy.
Yep.
Sad choices I would say. Nut case or a disingenuous (and at times dishonest) lawyer. Maybe the lawyer will do an okay job. Here’s hoping.
How did it come to this? Pardon me while I start digging my bunker …
Well thanks for voting. (This will be the new expression instead of thank you for your service)
Or, “I wish you hadn’t voted …”
Ha ha ha.
Bunker! That reminds me of this: http://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-28-2016-1.3824385/prepper-movement-braces-for-the-worst-after-u-s-election-1.3824407
There’s one dude who’s canning bullets and gold bullion. Just in case. I kid you not. (And he was born in Alberta, so we can’t quite disown him).
Ha! I’ve heard of groups like preppers before. They’re all set for the apocalypse!
I wonder if everything will go back to normal when the election’s over …
Nah!!!
Having just gone through the idiocy of the brexit vote over here, I feel for you. Just make sure people go out and vote. Too many remainers over here thought it was an easy win and didn’t vote. At the same time, many voters refused to admit they wanted to vote leave because they didn’t want to be seen as s bigot. Add the two together and you know what happened.
You’re so right, Dylan. I’m hoping turnout is sky high, and I also hope there are no shenanigans with voter suppression (as have been known to happen).
Sorry about the Brexit. Maybe you can just pretend it never happened and everyone will just forget …
I thought that “no sense of decency” came out of the Joe McCarthy hearings of some sort? I heard it from the REM song where they sampled. You’re sharpening stones / walking on coals / to improve your business acumen —
Dude, we are so fucked. I think that guy might win. And by “we,” I mean the planet. I blame Hillary, quite honestly, Death by hubris. This is the best the DNC and RNC could come up with?
Between those effing emails and the Obamacare price hikes, it feels like a preemptive coup is in progress.
Maybe it’s time for the people to nominate an unwilling president! Kind of like Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”